BILL NUMBER: ACR 35	CHAPTERED  08/23/99

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   82
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   AUGUST 23, 1999
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   AUGUST 19, 1999
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 22, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 15, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Steinberg and Senator Johnston

                        MARCH 25, 1999

   Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 35--Relative to the University
of California.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 35, Steinberg.  University of California:  remains of Ishi.
   This measure would urge the Regents of the University of
California to immediately take any and all actions necessary to
ensure that the remains of Ishi, who was the last surviving member of
the Yahi Indians, be returned to the appropriate tribal
representatives.  The measure would also urge the Governor to direct
all affected state agencies to cooperate in this effort so that a
proper Indian burial ceremony may take place.




   WHEREAS, In August 1911, a lone starving man known as Ishi emerged
from the foothills of Butte County into Oroville; and
   WHEREAS, It was later determined that this man was the last
surviving member of the Yahi Indians, a tribe that was virtually
exterminated in 1865 by white settlers, and the few survivors of
which had fled into the mountains of the Butte County area to avoid
enslavement, disease, or massacre; and
   WHEREAS, Ishi's story of survival, and his avoidance of European
ways and influence, has made him a legendary figure in Native
American and California history books, scientific treatises, and
movies; and
   WHEREAS, The discovery of Ishi sparked the interest of
anthropologists at the University of California, who brought him from
the Oroville Jail to San Francisco, where he was examined, studied,
and ultimately employed as a janitor at the Anthropology Museum of
the University of California; and
   WHEREAS, Ishi lived the remainder of his life as a living exhibit
at the Anthropology Museum of the University of California; and
   WHEREAS, When Ishi died in 1916 of tuberculosis, a European
disease against which he was almost defenseless, his body was
autopsied by medical personnel of the University of California in
violation of his beliefs and against his wishes; and
   WHEREAS, During the autopsy, Ishi's brain was removed and
subsequently sent by the University of California to the curator for
physical anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution for analysis;
Ishi's brain was preserved, and it languished in a warehouse in
Suitland, Maryland for 80 years until its recent discovery; and
   WHEREAS, The rest of Ishi's body was cremated shortly after his
death, and his cremated remains are now interred in a cemetery in
Colma, California; and
   WHEREAS, The Butte County Native American Cultural Committee,
which inspired the search for Ishi's brain, believes that a complete
body is necessary to perform a proper Indian burial ceremony; and
   WHEREAS, The University of California has responded to questions
about Ishi's brain by claiming that its records showed that Ishi's
brain had been cremated with the rest of his body; and
   WHEREAS, The University of California, San Francisco, in response
to accounts in the press, launched an investigation to determine what
happened to Ishi's brain and, through the efforts of their
historian, the Smithsonian Institution eventually acknowledged that
the brain was in its collection; and
   WHEREAS, A federal statute, known as the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, provides protection for
Native American remains and cultural items and provides for the
repatriation of these remains and items; and
   WHEREAS, It is the explicit policy of the State of California that
all Native American remains be repatriated; and
   WHEREAS, The fate of Ishi is an example of the cruelty and
injustice dealt to every tribe in California by those who came here
and displaced them; and
   WHEREAS, An expression of a desire for the unification and return
of the remains of Ishi to his homeland would constitute an expression
of remorse on the part of the State of California for its actions
that contributed to this injustice; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature urges the Regents of the
University of California to immediately take any and all actions
necessary to ensure that the remains of Ishi be returned to the
appropriate tribal representatives; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Governor to direct all
affected state agencies to cooperate in the effort to return the
remains of Ishi so that a proper Indian burial ceremony may take
place and closure may be brought to this indignity; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Governor and to each of the other members of
the Regents of the University of California.
